Harshit Rana is facing a fitness scare ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup, with doubts emerging over the bowling allrounder’s availability after he picked up a niggle during India’s warm-up match against South Africa in Navi Mumbai on February 4.
Rana bowled just one over in the game before leaving the field and was later seen with his thigh heavily strapped. Speaking on the eve of India’s tournament opener against the USA in Mumbai, captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted the early signs were not encouraging, though the 24-year-old has not yet been ruled out.
“He is not ruled out yet. He’s being assessed by the physios. But I think, today we’ll know what’s going to happen. But it doesn’t look good, it’s not that great,” Suryakumar said.
Rana’s potential absence would deprive India of a valuable lower-order option, especially given the team’s emphasis on batting depth in the shortest format. However, with several other combinations available, his unavailability is not expected to derail India’s plans significantly if the rest of the squad remains fit.
Axar Patel is likely to slot in at No. 8, while Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh are expected to spearhead the pace attack. “Don’t worry, we have 11 players for tomorrow,” Suryakumar said with a laugh.
“But it’s a big blow obviously because you make a squad of 15 players with a lot of combinations in mind. So we made it with the same thought. And if he is not available for us going forward, then we will set other combinations, however can we do it. But we have enough players, enough combinations, which we can make against all the teams for this tournament. But if we miss him, we will definitely miss him,” he added.
Rana featured in three of the five T20Is during India’s recent home series win against New Zealand. India did not name any reserve players when announcing their 15-man squad, given the home conditions for the tournament.
Suryakumar indicated that if Rana is ruled out, the team would look at a replacement, preferably someone who can contribute with the bat, though that would not be a strict requirement.
“We will see which fast bowlers have done really well for the last one or two years,” Suryakumar said.
“And which bowler can bat as well. But there is no hard-and-fast rule that he has to bat. Because if you are expecting someone at No. 9 or 10 to come and hit a six, then what do you have the top eight for. But we will see whom to pick. We do have a few options but we will pick the best one,” he added.
Apart from Bumrah and Arshdeep, India’s pace-bowling resources include allrounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube. Rana, meanwhile, has shown his value with the bat in recent months, notably scoring a boundary-filled 52 off 43 balls from No. 8 in the third ODI against New Zealand while chasing 338.